Back in 1975 there were only a couple dozen wineries in Napa Valley, today can you believe there are well over 800 wineries in Napa and Sonoma Counties? With so many great options of delicious vino in Napa and Sonoma, I wanted to highlight a few of my favorites.
If it’s your first time I suggest you hire a driver, and opt to take the scenic Silverado Trail snuggled up against the valley’s eastern hills. It’s parallel to the busier State Highway 29. It was built in the 1850’s and links the 30 or so miles between Napa and Calistoga. As you’re planning your Sonoma visit, I’ve found it’s best to limit visiting three vineyards a day in order to really enjoy the experience.
After falling in love with my first sip of Quintessa Cabernet many years ago visiting this modern contemporary vineyard was a must for me. Known for their beautiful bold reds, what I love about Quintessa is that the wine is organic and biodynamic. There are no pesticides used on the grapes helping create a superb taste. The owners who are Chilean believe in holistically farming the land bringing the ecosystem in balance. Quintessa captures the essence of Napa Valley from every vantage point. Sitting on the eastern edge of Rutherford, at the foot of the Vaca Mountain range, Quintessa is a natural mosaic.
The winemaker at Quintessa uses state of the art technology to treat their grapes. It’s called purfresh which improves fermentation and overall wine quality, and also removes the smoke taint caused by wildfires.
The owners who are in their 80’s live on the grounds and follow the lunar calendar to maximize the seasonal farming to be stewards of the land. Along with her husband, Valeria Huneeus, the Founder of Quintessa originally intended to study medicine, but redirected her love of science into viticulture and enology and thank goodness she did! The two also created Faust, Flowers, and Leviathan. All exceptional reds!
There are a number of places in Napa that may take your breath away and the replica of Persepolis, the ancient capital of Iran aims to impress during your drive into Darioush.
Built in 1997, it took Darioush Khaledi 6 years to complete this beautiful masterpiece. The walls are made from stone from Iran which took years to bring over into the US.
Born and raised in Iran, trained as a civil engineer, and a lifelong entrepreneur, Darioush’s fascination with wine started at an early age thanks to his father’s winemaking efforts and the cultural history of winemaking in Shiraz. He had his first sip of wine at 6-years old.
Darioush emigrated to the US seeking opportunity, reinventing his career by building what became at one point the largest family-owned grocery business in California. Together with his wife, he founded Darioush in 1997. The winery is Darioush’s realization of his American dream.
If you are looking to have a special experience you can book an event in Darioush’s private cellar. It’s part of his residence and has some phenomenal wines to choose from or you can just admire the bottles.
There are about 300 brick and mortar wineries in Napa, 80% are family owned and they produce 20% of the wine in Napa. Silver Oak was one of the top 40 wineries built in 1972. Silver Oak’s motto is “All we do is Cabernet” and hands down makes one of my favorite cabs. They produce two of them – one is from Napa, the other from Alexander Valley some may disagree, but I prefer the latter.
What sets Silver Oak apart from other wineries in Napa is the fact that the winemaker uses American Oak barrels. It’s the only winery that makes their own barrels which causes their wines have a hint of vanilla. Yes, please!
Now let’s head north to Sonoma about an hour away to Jordan. You may gasp as you lay eyes on the Jordan Chateau, it’s a thing of beauty! The grounds are also captivating and you may never want to leave.
The Jordans started with a vision of creating one wine the Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon another favorite of mine, but they quickly realized their only child needed a sibling, and Jordan Chardonnay was born. Both wines were created in the Bordeaux model of estate grown grapes. Over the decades, the winemaker learned that both wines significantly benefited by shifting to the Burgundy model making wines from a blend of grower vineyards.
Each year, the energy generated from Jordan’s hillside solar panels is equivalent to saving nearly 62,000 gallons of gasoline or planting nearly 14,000 trees. So, it’s no surprise that Jordan’s electrical use has been carbon neutral since 2014.
The vines at Bella were planted in 1915 even before the wine caves opened in 2002. Bella is a small family run winery dedicated to handcrafting small lots of Zinfandel. It’s a fun experience to grab a tasting inside the caves.
Or pack a picnic from the Dry Creek General Store and sit next to a 150-year-old olive tree outside the wine caves at Bella.
Don’t forget to grab a sandwich for Alex – one of the friendliest wine connoisseurs you’ll meet in Sonoma.
Hope you enjoy some of my recommendations! The best time to visit in my opinion is April. April-August is also a desirable time to plan a trip. Cheers!
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